Wales Set to Face Anyone in World Cup Play-off Draw

Wales football team celebration

Wales have secured eight of their previous sixteen matches with manager Craig Bellamy

The team's focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semifinal and potential final opponents.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against whichever team after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many supporters were saying recently, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be challenging.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Rivals Reviewed

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a points more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir HallgrĂ­msson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, losing 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Carla Hodges
Carla Hodges

Lena is a digital content creator with over five years of experience in live streaming and community building.